Pages

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Best Part of Having Grown Children

CIMG0791

Today is Kayla’s 23rd birthday. I never imagined, in all the years I spent praying for my children’s future spouses, that having a daughter-in-law would be such a blessing to ME! Kayla is not only like my own daughter… she’s also a wonderful and fun friend! We LOVE hanging out together. We love makeup, and movies, and shopping, oh, and we both love Kale with all our hearts.

So, for those of you with little ones, those of us who have raised our children really do mean it when we say the time goes by so fast and your children will be grown in the blink of an eye.  And you will miss it!  But, just know there are some really sweet, wonderful times ahead also! I know we’ve been blessed.

Happy Birthday, sweet, sweet Kayla!! We love you!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Kids and The Dog

I can’t believe I haven’t found the time or mental capacity to post in over a month.

David and I took off for Houston on March 24.  We drove half way and spent the night and finished the trip the next day.

Texarkana Holiday Inn Express

(Dave paced in the hotel room the first night… he had a hard time relaxing for a little bit, but by the end of the week he was vacationing like a pro!)

Kale was working out in the field, so he had us meet him for lunch a couple of hours from his house and we finished the trip with him as our guide.

The trip would’ve been GREAT, but the day I got there my tooth abscessed and I was sick, sick the entire time I was there.  My first toothache ever and it just had to come during our vacation!

But I was NEVER so happy to see this sight …

Arriving

First day

Leaving

Last day (sniff, sniff) 

Our granddog was ready to see us and quickly became Dave’s best friend. If you know me very well, you know I’m scared to death of dogs.  I got bit as a kid by a dog that was protecting Mikey Alec (for those of you that might read this that grew up in Placentia with me). He and I were play-fighting (because that’s what all little girls do) and the dog decided my acting skills were too good. I got bit again as an adult when I went to pay my water bill… turned my back on that dog and he latched on to my hamstring.

So, it took me a couple days to warm up to Sir Bosley, but before we left, we were pals.

Bosley bonding with g-ma

I felt sorry for Dave because as we turned on to our dirt road on the way home, I said, “Well, it’s back to dirt roads again” and he said, “and that stupid cat!”.  (I knew he was going to miss Bosley.) 

We got home on March 30.  Kale turned 23 on March 31 (Happy Birthday, baby!) and then two days later we adopted her…

CIMG0803

It was a BIG step for me.  We haven’t had a dog for quite a few years since we lost the boys’ childhood dog.  Her name is Isabella.  We call her Izzy.  We adopted her from the Humane Society.  On Good Friday, we had scheduled to meet a woman about a six-month old male Boston Terrier in a nearby town (the same age as Bosley).  Before we left, Tyler called to tell us about a Boston at the Humane Society.  When I told David it was a girl, he indicated “NO GIRL”.  I told him it wouldn’t hurt to just go meet her.  So, since I was driving, we went to the Humane Society first.  When they brought her in to us, she was so calm and so sweet.  But, she was a year and a half (older than we planned) and 36.5 pounds (much bigger than we planned.  Turns out she was a Boston Terrier mix…we’re not sure what she’s mixed with).  She was spayed, so Dave’s concern about her being pregnant was put to rest.  We commented on how sweet she was, but still decided to keep our appointment to meet the other dog.

When we met the little male Boston… he was very wild and appeared to have not been worked with. At all. We realized the undertaking it would be to  train him and when the girl gave us a little time to talk, we both were feeling the need to go back and look at “Fortune” at the Humane Society again.

So we headed back to the Shelter…they let us walk her and she walked on the leash like a pro!! It didn’t take us long to realize she was just the dog for us. As it turns out, someone has treated this dog really well, and she is fully trained to a crate, to sit, to walk on a leash.  She’s a great dog!

IMG00158

So we’ve had her since April 2 and we’re all adjusting to the Empty Nest + a dog now.  Tyler thinks it’s funny that it only took us two weeks from him moving out to get a dog. Ha!

Speaking of Tyler.  Last week was his 21st birthay. Happy Birthday, Fest!!